If you're trying to sell a walnut butt.....

[Rob D]

Just thought I'd do a quick thread on selling walnut. If you have come across a walnut tree to come down it may be worth your while selling it. But it helps a lot if you know how to describe it and then you'll have a better chance of selling it.

 

Bear in mind it's highly unlikely to be worth the mythical figures that seem to be associated with it but still may be worth doing.

 

The things that make walnut more valuable are:

 

 

• The colour - walnut can be a dull grey colour to an intense very dark chocolate brown. The more intense the colour the better as a rule of thumb. It can be the grey stuff is worth something if there are a few very black growth rings in amoungst it.
  
• Shake or no shake - star shake is a common problem and means the yield from a log is greatly reduced.
  
• Size of the sap ring - some walnuts can have an enormous sap ring then only a small dark heartwood. The larger the sap ring the less it's worth.
  
• Burring - if there are nice burrs then it'll increase the value a lot.
  

When taking pictures take a clean cut across the log and then take some pics within 5 mins while the wood is still moist and you can see what the colour is like. After the face dries it's hard to see the colour at all. In wet weather it may take a few mins for the colour to deepen. Try and take a pic when the colour looks the most vibrant.

 

Went and looked at a fallen walnut last week and milled it today.

 

I quartered it to get less wide but more stable planks.

 

So after cutting the face you can see that this one has a good colour, small sap ring but some definite structural shake. There's also a pocket of decay and some metal inside (but the pics don't show).

 

I paid £70 for these 2 logs but would have paid £150 if there was no shake, no metal and no decay.

 

So to describe these logs I'd say where they were (first 4 letters of postcode), diameter and length of each log i.e. in this case Fatter one 24" diameter, 4 foot long, and other is 20" diameter and 6 foot long. And what the access is like - fine but across a long back garden.

 

 

 

[Big J]

Very good thread Rob - great idea. It's one of those perennial subjects that pops up regularly, like "What's lime like to burn" or "Husky or Stihl"!

 

Fantastic colour in that walnut, though shame about the star shake. Only thing worse than star shake is ring shake, so it could have been worse I suppose.

 

J

[firewood]

Rob, big j....

 

What causes shake like that in walnut and other woods? Fungal attack? Wind stressing the trunk? Genetic or growth defect? Or is it just stress relief once the stem is cut and on the deck?

 

http://www.kinnoirwoodfuel.co.uk

[nepia]

I take it that star shake is the radial cracking picked out in red in pic 2 and ring shake would be - well, circular cracks where the grain has separated...?

 

Jon

Edited January 25, 2012 by nepia
Clarification tho' the answer to my q is bleedin' obvious

[Rob D]

It was worth milling and should get some nice bits out of it.

[Rob D]

I take it that star shake is the radial cracking picked out in red in pic 2 and ring shake would be - well, circular cracks where the grain has separated...?

 

Jon

 

 

Exactly it.

 

There will always be a little cross shaped crack in the best log in the middle (usually starts appearing minutes after cutting) and this is normal. Shake is there as soon as you look at it and the radial cracks are longer and nastier looking!

 

You can see in the pic a tiny bit of ringshake forming on the inside - when the rings start separating further out that can render the timber totally unuseable.

[Rob D]

Rob, big j....

 

What causes shake like that in walnut and other woods? Fungal attack? Wind stressing the trunk? Genetic or growth defect? Or is it just stress relief once the stem is cut and on the deck?

 

www.kinnoirwoodfuel.co.uk

 

 

I'm not sure I think it has to do with growing conditions, soil and prob lots of other variables.... Someone else on the forum may be able to help with that.

[slack ma girdle]

From what i remember, shake is generated by:

Soil and growing conditions

Genetics (some trees are naturally more prone)

Some shake is generated from the shear plane that allows the tree to flex without snapping.

 

There is a couple of other reasons but my brain is mush at the moment.

[Graham]

Shakes in oak are more prevalent when they're growing in light sandy soils I think. Perhaps because of greater soil water variations?

[Crazy Cutter]

Shakes in oak are more prevalent when they're growing in light sandy soils I think. Perhaps because of greater soil water variations?

 

Thats right and also poor felling it's worth removing branches on valuable butts before felling. But that eats into profit.